A Delve into the Psychosocial Experiences of Adults with Mild to Moderate Hearing Loss Using Leventhal’s Self-Regulatory Model

Abstract

Hearing loss, whether congenital or acquired is often a life-long disability that hinders the psychological, social, and emotional well-being of the affected people. Existing studies have explored the psychosocial experiences of people with hearing impairment and the coping strategies adopted to deal with the accompanying hardships. The present work aims to study the psychosocial experiences of adults with hearing loss using Self-regulatory model Leventhal as a theoretical framework, the way hearing-impaired people experience wellbeing, cope with their life, create meaning, regulate emotion and how hearing-impaired people transcend from their mundane living and attain happiness. Adults ranging from 30-45 years of age with mild to moderate hearing loss were selected as participants for this research. The participants were then administered the Symptom Checklist (SCL 27), the Subjective Well-Being Scale, the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, the Coping Checklist and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression analysis were conducted on the quantitative data. The study has shed light upon the type of coping strategies adopted by hearing-impaired individuals, their nature of emotion regulation and has taken a more positive paradigm to look into the matters that contribute most to their wellbeing.

Keywords: Hearing-impairment, coping, emotion, wellbeing, meaning